Prohibitionists win

The Stock Exchange of Thailand decided to shelve its decision on whether to list Thai Beverage Plc indefinitely as thousands of monks, students and social activists celebrated the victory.

Vichate Tantiwanich, a SET executive vice-president, told the protesters outside the exchange headquarters on Thursday that financial advisers for ThaiBev were unable to set an appropriate price for the local offering by the filing deadline.

"As a result, the plan to list ThaiBev will be delayed," Mr Vichate said, adding the advisers had said market conditions were not conducive at this time.

ThaiBev, the country's largest alcoholic beverage producer, had planned to sell 80 million existing shares in a public offering and dual listing on the SET.

The company is currently listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange with 25 billion shares outstanding.

The protesters surrounded the SET's headquarters yesterday on Ratchadaphisek road to pressure the exchange into rejecting the listing on moral grounds, a repeat of the widespread protests seen in 2005 when ThaiBev first sought listing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission had set a deadline for today for the share listing, and had already signalled it would approve the filing as a matter of routine. Phatra Securities and SCB Securities are the financial advisers for the ThaiBev listing.

The protesters dispersed after the announcement by SET officials that the listing would be delayed, but vowed to rally again if ThaiBev made another attempt.